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A43698 A sermon preached before the Right Honourable George Earl of Berkeley, Governour, and the Company of Merchants of England trading into the Levant Seas at St. Peters Church in Broadstreet, January, 25, 1680 / by Charles Hickman ... Hickman, Charles, 1648-1713.; Berkeley, George Berkeley, Earl of, 1628-1698. 1681 (1681) Wing H1896; ESTC R11269 15,523 36

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both temporary and local was now in the fulness of time to be utterly abolished though the promise was made only to Abraham and his Seed and that promise solemnized only at the Temple yet the time was coming when the Temple should be destroyed and God would raise up from those stones even from the ruins of the Temple children unto Abraham The mighty Fabrick should fall down and in three days a more glorious than that should be erected instead thereof So much for the Place 2. As for the Object of their worship the answer is Ye worship ye know not what we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews Here the Samaritan Church stood in great need of a Reformation for though they feared the Lord yet they served their own Gods also after the manner of the Nations And though by the frequent Conversion of Jews to their Church they had laid by the grosser parts of their Idolatry yet they kept their Idols and graven Images in their houses and worshiped according to our Saviours words they knew not what In this respect our Saviour adjudges the Cause to the Jewish side alledging that though the Ceremonial part of their worship was now expiring yet the substance thereof should never change God is the same for ever and the object of their worship shall remain throughout all Ages They are the only Church which truly acknowledges the only true God and therefore Salvation is of the Jews and from them it shall be derived to all other Nations But 3. Though the Jews did worship the true God yet the manner of worship was imperfect and deficient even amongst them and the imperfection thereof consisted herein while their service depended upon outward forms alone and they were taught to offer up the fruits of their bodily labour for the Sins of their Soul whilst they measured their obedience by these dead works of the Law and their devotion only by hearing or repeating the forms prescribed by Moses then could this people draw nigh unto God with their mouths when their heart was far from him When the Sacrifice was ended their work was done and they could return to their sins with this satisfaction that the scape-Goat in the wilderness had carryed off all their transgressions that were past and the Goats in their Folds could expiate for all that was to come Thus they thought they might obtain forgiveness of their sins without any Reformation of their Minds for their Flesh was always willing but their Spirit was always weak Thus the Jews worshipped the true God by types and figures but the Samaritans worshiped types and figures for the true God that worship was true but imperfect this was neither perfect nor true Therefore for the instruction of both Jew and Samaritan our Saviour tells them that The hour cometh and now when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth In Spirit first to distinguish the Gospel-service from the shadows of the Jewish Law which in Scripture are called carnal ordinances And then in Truth to divide it from the Samaritan Idolatry and all other superstitious errors To worship in Spirit therefore is to bow the knees of our heart and not content our selves with the outward devotion of the body alone which could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the Conscience but to offer up the only acceptable Sacrifice of a broken and contrite Spirit To worship God in Truth is to worship the true God in such a manner as he has directed without profaning his service as the Samaritans did by a mixture of Heathenish Superstitions and Idols which are called lies And those who thus worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth our Saviour terms the true worshippers for the discovery of whom I proceed in the third place to apply the former discourse to the present times that by our Saviours deciding this Controversie we may be able to pass some judgment upon the Controversies of these our days which have so miserably rent our Nation and do lively represent unto us the antient discord between the Jews and the Samaritans And herein I must beg your favour and patience if I am necessarily led not by my own inclinations but by the method of my Text to touch upon some of those sores which so unhappily afflict us that they cannot be heal'd without handling nor handled without regret and pain and yet as I shall avoid all unnecessary unprofitable provocations and endeavour with a tender hand not to enlarge but to close the wound so I hope none will be offended at this charitable design especially in defence of that Church whereof of we all here profess our selves to be Members 1. Then As in those days so now also we find that of all the disputes which divide the hearts of men and disaffect them from each other there are none raised with more Ignorance and Pride carried on with more Heat and Animosity nor concluded with more Labour and Difficulty than those which concern Religion and the different ways of worshipping God No Opinion is so absurd but it will serve to lay the foundation of a Schism amongst the discontented inconsiderate multitude and gain sturdy Proselytes too in spight of all the convictions of Reason if it can plead either ease or interest in its behalf For though all Nations do agree in the certainty of a God and the necessity of his worship yet when men think themselves so wonderfully wise that neither the height nor depth of his wisdom are beyond his reach when they will intrude into the Counsels of the Almighty and shape his worship according to the extravagance of their fancy then does their wisdom degenerate into ignorance and the strength of their reason only betrays them to labour and folly Hardly do we guess aright at the things upon Earth and with labour do we find the things that are before us but the things that are in Heaven who hath searched out and thy Counsels who hath known said the wisest of men But though the Ignorance of man be great yet generally his Pride is greater than that and those false Notions which in his vanity he has conceived in his obstinacy he will defend There are few so ingenuous as to confess an error and the most ignorant are always the hardest to convince They will impose their own fancies upon others with that eagerness as if they really were what they falsly stile them the only Divine Truths and immediate Revelations of God and to disbelieve their Opinion is to renounce their friendship Thus the Heathens though they had no knowledg of God yet they also would fight pro aris focis for their Gods as well as their Country and the sharpest Persecutions that the world ever saw were raised by the Romish Emperors first and after them by their Successors the Romish Bishops against the professours of the true Primitive Christianity No wars are so bloody